a cropped version:
Disappointing clarity though probably the best I've managed to date with Swallow photography.
Showing posts with label Swallow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Swallow. Show all posts
Sunday, 14 May 2017
Poor, But the Best So Far
Had to stop and watch a while when I saw two Swallows flying around as we went walkabout mid-morning today. Fortunately they eventually settled on an old outhouse which is being converted though quite a distance away even on full zoom:
a cropped version:
Disappointing clarity though probably the best I've managed to date with Swallow photography.
a cropped version:
Disappointing clarity though probably the best I've managed to date with Swallow photography.
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Swooping Swallows
Normally I see a few Swallows swooping down and across the village cricket field towards the end of Summer when they are stocking up on food ready for the long flight back to Africa. Unusually yesterday there were three doing just that - flying up, swooping down and then skimming just a few inches above the surface of the field. Each would make two or three circuits and then disappear for a short while so I presume there is a nest somewhere no too far away.
Trying to get a photograph of constantly moving, small, high speed fliers is bad enough when they are up in the air. Even more difficult when they are at ground level and rapidly covering the whole field, even coming within a few feet of us as we sat and watched. I tried a few speculative shots with the Nikon and hoped for the best and this was the only one which managed to catch sight of a Swallow:
It is near the bottom left of the photo. All I did was point in the general direction and shoot when they got reasonably close. Far from a brilliant shot but the first I have managed.
It has been estimated that Swallows can achieve a speed in excess of 11 metres per second, 24 mph.
Trying to get a photograph of constantly moving, small, high speed fliers is bad enough when they are up in the air. Even more difficult when they are at ground level and rapidly covering the whole field, even coming within a few feet of us as we sat and watched. I tried a few speculative shots with the Nikon and hoped for the best and this was the only one which managed to catch sight of a Swallow:
It is near the bottom left of the photo. All I did was point in the general direction and shoot when they got reasonably close. Far from a brilliant shot but the first I have managed.
It has been estimated that Swallows can achieve a speed in excess of 11 metres per second, 24 mph.
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Swallows on the Move
It is not one swalowe that bryngeth in somer. (From the proverbs of Erasmus) but by the looks of things yesterday afternoon the arrival of about twenty or more Swallows hurtling around the sky above my garden it seems as though they are making their way back to the coast. They will soon be leaving for warmer climates. That must mean we are getting near the end of Summer. What Summer I hear you ask. Well we are well past the longest day so there must have been one some time as we are now heading to Autumn. Daylight hours are noticeably shorter.
It was pure chance that I spotted the Swallows as I was washing up after we had enjoyed a basic but tasty stew. Quite a few took a short rest on the telephone wires just past the end of my garden and spent some time preening their flight feathers. Those birds had shorter tail feathers so I assume they were from this years broods.
This is the first time I have seen so many together. Normally I only see the odd three or four so it was really pleasant standing in the Sunlight watching the speed and agility of these birds as they hunt the insects flying above the trees. They made the rest of the garden birds look like they were flying in slow motion.
I don't know what is wrong with my computer but uploading anything has been a real pain recently. I have been lucky if one photo would upload to Flickr using either the web based or the stand alone uploaders. Things would hang with lots of router activity but no progress or they would time out. Today I found a Firefox add on which uploads to many different services and that seemed to work just fine. Let's hope it keeps working!
It was pure chance that I spotted the Swallows as I was washing up after we had enjoyed a basic but tasty stew. Quite a few took a short rest on the telephone wires just past the end of my garden and spent some time preening their flight feathers. Those birds had shorter tail feathers so I assume they were from this years broods.
This is the first time I have seen so many together. Normally I only see the odd three or four so it was really pleasant standing in the Sunlight watching the speed and agility of these birds as they hunt the insects flying above the trees. They made the rest of the garden birds look like they were flying in slow motion.
I don't know what is wrong with my computer but uploading anything has been a real pain recently. I have been lucky if one photo would upload to Flickr using either the web based or the stand alone uploaders. Things would hang with lots of router activity but no progress or they would time out. Today I found a Firefox add on which uploads to many different services and that seemed to work just fine. Let's hope it keeps working!
Monday, 3 August 2009
Not an Amazon in Sight
Spent a couple of hours lazing in the garden today and occasionally photographing and filming the butterfly visitors but that will have to wait until tomorrow.
Just about teatime a group of about ten Swallows suddenly appeared and spent about ten minutes zooming around overhead before moving on. I tried the camcorder but to get them in vision meant wide angle and I ended up with a few specks speeding across the screen. In the end I fetched the DSLR, set it to a fixed focus and tried for a few stills. Most were out of focus and all were grainy as I had upped the ISO to get a fast shutter speed. Today they stayed high up so the pictures are cropped from small sections of the photos.
Just one gave a passable photo, certainly better than anything I managed last year anyway.
Plenty of Swallows, but not an Amazon in sight.
Last year I watched a group on the cricket field. Marvellous to see them swoop down at high speed within a couple of inches of the ground over and over again. I watched them for nearly half an hour as they gradually cleared the field of all the insects they could catch.
Just about teatime a group of about ten Swallows suddenly appeared and spent about ten minutes zooming around overhead before moving on. I tried the camcorder but to get them in vision meant wide angle and I ended up with a few specks speeding across the screen. In the end I fetched the DSLR, set it to a fixed focus and tried for a few stills. Most were out of focus and all were grainy as I had upped the ISO to get a fast shutter speed. Today they stayed high up so the pictures are cropped from small sections of the photos.
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| From MIDMARSH JOTTINGS |
Just one gave a passable photo, certainly better than anything I managed last year anyway.
Plenty of Swallows, but not an Amazon in sight.
Last year I watched a group on the cricket field. Marvellous to see them swoop down at high speed within a couple of inches of the ground over and over again. I watched them for nearly half an hour as they gradually cleared the field of all the insects they could catch.
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